Harvey Weinstein appears in court charged with rape and sex abuse in cases involving two women

He earlier clutched a biography on Elia Kazan — the womanising, A Streetcar Named Desire director accused of sex assault in the 1970s — as he surrendered to cops in New York at 7.30am.

He arrived with a $1million cheque for bail, allowing him to avoid hours in holding cells.

Weinstein was frogmarched in front of cameras at the police station and again at court, at one point exclaiming: “Wow”. The charges are the first since over 70 women made claims against him and launched the #MeToo movement in October.

Weinstein is accused of assaults against aspiring actress Lucia Evans at his New York office in 2004, and an un­named woman in 2013.

Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi told Manhattan Criminal Court an investigation had “revealed this defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually”.